Quiet Place
by IdiotWithaBoxandaScrewdriver
Summary: Hao patted the ground beside him in invitation.  Maybe he should have been cautious, suspicious, but Yoh had always been the trusting type and so he sat himself down beside Hao without hesitation, looking out over the fields that stretched on.


Star: A quick little tale that popped randomly into my head and demanded to be written down. I own nothing but this itty-bitty plot bunny.

Yoh was in a brightly lit field of flowers that seemed to stretch on forever. "Where am I?" He asked aloud, his voice sounding a little too loud in the peaceful silence.

"Over here, Yoh." Another voice called to him, familiar. He couldn't place it for the moment, but without hesitation he waded through the multitude of cheerfully colourful flowers towards where he'd heard the voice.

In the middle of the field there stretched a small lake, too big to be called a pond. It was glass-smooth, undisturbed by the presence of rocks, reeds or logs poking out of the dark blue water. There was a figure sitting at the edge of the water with long dark hair. The figured turned, and Hao beckoned to him.

"It's about time you got here." He said in a friendly way as Yoh walked up. Yoh frowned, that didn't seem like Hao at all, did it? Hao was smiling at him too, in a way Yoh had never seen him smile before. It was a warm smile, gentle too. Yoh hadn't even known Hao could produce such a smile.

Hao patted the ground beside him in invitation. Yoh noticed that his gloves were gone. Maybe he should have been cautious, suspicious, but Yoh had always been the trusting type and so he sat himself down beside Hao without hesitation, looking out over the lake and fields that stretched on and on in all directions.

"What is this place?" He asked.

"A quiet place." Hao answered simply.

"I can see that." Yoh commented cheerfully. Hao's smile turned peculiar for a moment. "Why are we here?"

"To talk." Hao replied. Yoh felt a little annoyed now.

"I tried to talk to you many times before, but you always brushed me off." He accused.

"I know, I know." Hao sighed. "And I'm sorry." Yoh blinked at him, startled. "Now, we can talk." Yoh blinked rapidly, his mind going blank.

"You're... acting oddly." He finally managed to comment.

"I suppose I am, at least to you." Hao replied with a patient sigh.

"Why?" Yoh asked curiously.

"I'll tell you a story first, it should help." Hao started. "Once upon a time-"

Yoh couldn't help a small chuckle. Hao gave him a stern look and he subsided, allowing his brother to continue. "Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Asaha. He lived alone with his mother, whom he loved with all his little heart."

"Let me guess." Yoh interrupted. "His mother was beautiful?" Hao smiled softly, looking out over the small lake.

"She was the most beautiful woman in the world in Asaha's eyes. She had long, flowing flaxen hair and eyes like pools of dark gold. She was as kind as she was beautiful, never having a bad word to say about anyone. She did have a stinging slap ready though if she felt Asaha was being naughty."

Hao paused and Yoh waited for him to go on, intrigued. He had an idea where this tale was going. "Asaha and his mother, whose name was Asanoha, were special. They could see and talk to the spirits of the dead. Often Asanoha tried to help the spirits she encountered pass over, but most of the time she just spoke to them, giving them a little bit of happiness."

Hao sighed heavily, and then continued. "The people around her feared her. She was good and kind, but they still believed she was a demon or an imp of some kind. So, one day they burned down the house, with her inside it."

"Oh god." Yoh whispered, horrified. Hao nodded slowly, his face sad.

"Asaha was not home at the time, but came back in time to watch his home, with his mother trapped inside, burn down while he was helpless to do anything." Hao let out a shuddering sigh. "He spent the next several years of his life taking care of himself and wishing he'd died too."

"What happened to him?" Yoh asked, feeling like he already knew.

"He grew up, and grew powerful. He took a new name that sounded noble in order to put his sad past behind him and convince himself he was a new man. He became a powerful and well-known sorcerer. He exorcised demons and restless spirits. He started a clan of shamans like him. He was a good man, who helped the people. And yet, as with his mother, they only feared and despised him."

Hao paused again. "And?" Yoh prompted.

"He began to remember his childhood, and how they'd killed his mother. Eventually, he learned to hate those that hated him in return. In the end, he became so twisted that he believed that humans didn't deserve to live and began to plot to destroy them."

He stopped and Yoh knew the tale was done. "Asaha was your name, before you became Hao, wasn't it?" Hao nodded glumly. "I'm so sorry, Hao. I wished I'd known."

"I didn't want you, or anyone to know." Hao said gravely. "I'd even tried to bury the memories myself, because it reminded me that at the end of the day, my hatred was really the product of my mother's death." His voice was bitter. "I didn't want to face that."

"But, you're facing it now?" Yoh said, feeling a little confused.

"Yes, and I have you to thank for that." Hao said with a smile.

"How?" Yoh asked, now genuinely confused.

"I got a bit of a glance at the inside of your head." Hao explained. "It was... different. What struck me was the fact that you had hope, even after being subjected by ridicule and even violence by your classmates as a child."

"How did you...?" Hao waved off the question and Yoh shut his mouth. Did it really matter, in the end?

"I got to thinking a little bit, right before you came actually, and I thought that maybe you had something. Maybe you were seeing things that I had missed." Hao explained. "When I realized that, and realized that all that I'd worked for was just meaningless, I surrendered."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I decided to stop, I decided that I could do without hate and without plans and without power. From now on, I simply exist." Hao smiled again. "Do you know how freeing it is to let everything go?"

"Well, it seems to have done you good." Yoh observed. Hao chuckled.

"It has, and I'm grateful that you're the one who brought it all about." He said. "My only wish is that you had been there from the start and I could have skipped all those years of causing pain."

The two of them fell silent for a time. After awhile Yoh began to get the feeling like he was supposed to be going somewhere. Apparently Hao felt it too because he softly huffed and stood up, brushing himself off. He offered Yoh a hand.

"It's time to go." He said gravely. Yoh took his hand and let Hao haul him to his feet. They set off through the quiet field, holding hands like two small children. It felt right to Yoh and he was happy, though for some reason he also felt a little bit sad.

"Where are we going?" He asked after a time.

"Home." Hao answered simply. Yoh nodded and was silent for a few moments.

"I'm going to miss it." He suddenly said softly. Hao looked at him and smiled sadly. The hand holding Yoh's squeezed gently.

"I know." He murmured sympathetically. "Perhaps... perhaps we'll go back again someday."

"Together?" Yoh asked eagerly. He was happy to be with his brother, he didn't want to lose him again.

"If you'd like." Hao agreed.

"I'd like that, I'd like that a lot." Yoh answered honestly. Hao smiled broadly.

"So would I."

...

A pair of blank black eyes stared sightlessly up at the bright blue sky. The owner of the eyes did not move from where they lay. Their chest did not rise and fall with breath, and the rhythm of their strong heart had been stilled. Blood dried on and around them, mockingly bright.

Figures stood, frozen, around the body. Several teenagers and a handful of adults looked down, uncertain. A soft, broken sob pierced the silence, though it was unclear who had made the sound. There were tears in a few pairs of eyes.

Finally, hands moved to close the empty eyes, and another pair gently folded the arms across the body's chest. Movement was slow, dreamlike, as though no one could believe this was real. There was hesitation and then another body, looking much like the first, which had been largely ignored, received the same treatment.

Two stretchers were made, to carry the bodies. One had been their friend, the other, their enemy; in death though they received the same respect. _He_ would have wanted that and so they carried out his wishes.

No one spoke, there were no words after all. Soon a pyre would be erected, and the two bodies placed upon it. It was only then, just before the fire was lit, that they realized that both appeared to be smiling, as though happy, even in death.

~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Star: Uh, yeah. I don't have anything to say, really.


End file.
